Perception, usage and barriers towards the utilisation of the Telecentre among rural women in Tanzania
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-01-2018-0004 |
| Published date | 11 March 2019 |
| Pages | 2-16 |
| Date | 11 March 2019 |
| Author | Edda Tandi Lwoga,Wallace Chigona |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Perception, usage and barriers
towards the utilisation of
the Telecentre among rural
women in Tanzania
Edda Tandi Lwoga
Department of Mathematics and ICT, College of Business Education,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and
Wallace Chigona
Department of Information Systems, University of Cape Town,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to assess the usagepattern of telecentres, how rural women frame telecentres
and barriers that limit use of telecentres. Further, the study examined the effects of demographic
characteristicsand location on telecentre usage.
Design/methodology/approach –The study used a sequential mixed research design in three rural
districts surroundingtelecentres: Kongwa, Sengerema and Kilosa districts. Thestudy population comprised
rural women who were users and non-usersof telecentres. The study conducted six focus group discussions
(FGDs) with 37 users and six FGDs with 36 non-usersin the first phase of the study in 2014; questionnaires
were administeredto 90 users and 90 non-users in the second phase of the study in 2015.
Findings –The primary use of telecentres among users was to access internet (71.4 per cent, n=60),
followed by information and communication technology (ICT) training courses (63.1 per cent, n= 53) and
secretarial purposes(63.1 per cent, n= 53). Rural women used internet for educational purposes, followed by
news, informationon health issues, job opportunities, social and entertainmentissues. Rural women currently
using internetwere more likely to be better educated (ß= 1.926, p= 0.001) and have higherincomes (ß= 5.318,
p= 0.021) at both bivariateand multivariate analysis. Users indicated that they facedthe following barriers
towards using telecentre: short durationof ICT training, frequent power outages, low speed of internet and
few computers at the telecentres. Non-users were not using telecentres because of lack of ICT skills and
languagebarriers.
Originality/value –This study provides empirical evidence to telecentres, libraries and other rural ICT
initiativesto design rural ICT services that are gender-sensitive and demand-driven.
Keywords Africa, Tanzania, Information and communication technology, Rural women, Telecentre
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Information and communicationtechnologies (ICTs) can play an important role to the socio-
economic development of communities in developing countries (Kapondera and Chigona,
2017a, 2017b;Terry and Gomez, 2011;Thapa and Sæbø,2014;Zaremohzzabich et al., 2014).
Public access ICTs such as telecentres were adopted as one of the strategies to bridge the
digital divide and enhance access to information and communication services to the rural
communities, especiallythose with limited settings (Chigona et al., 2016;Furuholtand Sæbø,
2018;Mwantimwa,2017). Telecentres operate mainly as:
JICES
17,1
2
Received7 February 2018
Revised26 March 2018
Accepted8 May 2018
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.17 No. 1, 2019
pp. 2-16
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-01-2018-0004
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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